In its simplest form, an Arduino is a tiny computer that you can program to process inputs and outputs going to and from the chip.
The Arduino is what is known as a Physical or Embedded Computing platform, which means that it is an interactive system, that through the use of hardware and software can interact with itʼs environment.
For example, a simple use of the Arduino would be to turn a light on for a set period of time, let's say 30 seconds, after a button has been pressed (we will build this very same project later in the book). In this example, the Arduino would have a lamp connected to it as well as a button. The Arduino would sit patiently waiting for the button to be pressed. When you press the button it would then turn the lamp on and start counting. Once it had counted 30 seconds it would then turn the lamp off and then carry on sitting there waiting for another button press. You could use this set-up to control a lamp in an under-stairs cupboard for example. You could extend this example to sense when the cupboard door was opened and automatically turn the light on, turning it off after a set period of time.
The Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone interactive objects or it can be connected to a computer to retrieve or send data to the Arduino and then act on that data (e.g. Send sensor data out to the internet). The Arduino can be connected to LED's. Dot Matrix displays, LED displays, buttons, switches, motors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, distance sensors, webcams, printers, GPS receivers, ethernet modules
The Arduino board is made of an an Atmel AVR Microprocessor, a crystal or oscillator (basically a crude clock that sends time pulses to the microcontroller to enable it to operate at the correct speed) and a 5-volt linear regulator. Depending on what type of Arduino you have, you may also have a USB connector to enable it to be connected to a PC or Mac to upload or retrieve data. The board exposes the microcontroller's I/O (Input/Output) pins to enable you to connect those pins to other circuits or to sensors, etc.
To program the Arduino (make it do what you want it to) you also use the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment), which is a piece of free software, that enables you to program in the language that the Arduino understands. In the case of the Arduino the language is C. The IDE enables you to write a computer program, which is a set of step-bystep instructions that you then upload to the Arduino. Then your Arduino will carry out those instructions and interact with the world outside. In the Arduino world, programs are known as ?Sketches'. The Arduino hardware and software are both Open Source, which means the code, the schematics, design, etc. are all open for anyone to take freely and do what they like with it.
This means there is nothing stopping anyone from taking the schematics and PCB designs of the Arduino and making their own and selling them. This is perfectly legal, and indeed the whole purpose of Open Source, and indeed the Freeduino that comes with the Earthshine Design Arduino Starter Kit is a perfect example of where someone has taken the Arduino PCB design, made their own and are selling it under the Freeduino name. You could even make your own Arduino, with just a few cheap components, on a breadboard.
The only stipulation that the Arduino development team put on outside developers is that the Arduino name can only be used exclusively by them on their own products and hence the clone boards have names such as Freeduino, Boarduino, Roboduino, etc. As the designs are open source, any clone board, such as the Freeduino, is 100% compatible with the Arduino and therefore any software, hardware, shields, etc. will all be 100% compatible with a genuine Arduino.
The Arduino can also be extended with the use of ?Shields' which are circuit boards containing other devices (e.g. GPS receivers, LCD Displays, Ethernet connections, etc.) that you can simply slot into the top of your Arduino to get extra functionality. You don't have to use a shield if you don't want to as you can make the exact same circuitry using a breadboard, some veroboard or even by making your own PCB's. There are many different variants of the Arduino available. The most common one is the Diecimila or the Duemilanove. You can also get Mini, Nano and Bluetooth Arduino's.
New to the product line is the new Arduino Mega with increased memory and number of I/O pins.
Probably the most versatile Arduino, and hence the reason it is the most popular, is the Duemilanove. This is because it uses a standard 28 pin chip, attached to an IC Socket. The beauty of this systems is that if you make something neat with the Arduino and then want to turn it into something permanent (e.g. Or understairs cupboard light), then instead of using the relatively expensive Arduino board, you can simply use the Arduino to develop your device, then pop the chip out of the board and place it into your own circuit board in your custom device. You would then have made a custom embedded device, which is really cool. Then, for a couple of quid or bucks you can replace the AVR chip in your Arduino with a new one. The chip must be pre-programmed with the Arduino Bootloader to enable it to work with the Arduino IDE, but you can either burn the Bootloader yourself if you purchase an AVR Programmer, or you can buy these preprogrammed from many suppliers around the world. Of course, Earthshine Design provide preprogrammed Arduino chips in it' store for a very reasonable price.
If you do a search on the Internet by simply typing ? Arduino' into the search box of your favourite search engine, you will be amazed at the huge amount of websites dedicated to the Arduino. You can find a mind boggling amount of information on projects made with the Arduino and if you have a project in mind, will easily find information that will help you to get your project up and running easily.
The Arduino is an amazing device and will enable you to make anything from interactive works of art to robots. With a little enthusiasm to learn how to program the Arduino and make it interact with other components a well as a bit of imagination, you can build anything you want.
This book and the kit will give you the necessary skills needed to get started in this exciting and creative hobby.
So, now you know what an Arduino is and what you can do with it, let's open up the starter kit and dive right in.
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